I was couscous, that much, at least, was obvious to me.

  Problem was, I couldn’t see.

  What the hell?

  I panicked for a long while - maybe, I couldn’t even tell the time - but this didn’t change anything, so eventually, I calmed down. The panic wasn’t gone, mind you, but panicking was getting me nowhere, so I put it aside. Instead, I started taking stock.

  What all am I actually missing? Sight, obviously, but I can’t hear anything, so maybe hearing (though there might just not be anyone around), I can't move, I can’t feel anything, I can't smell anything…

  Can I breathe?

  …

  No.

  Maybe?

  I can feel something happening.

  It felt like I was pulling something in. I couldn’t stop once I started, but it didn’t feel quite like breathing.

  I kept “pulling.”

  The thing resisted quite a bit, but eventually acquiesced, and I got to finally learn something. A stream of energy, like lightning but flowing rather than jagged, was pulled into my body, and suddenly, I could see.

  I was in a small(?) room, perfectly spherical, made entirely of amethyst. There was a small hole from my “room” to the greater geode (and based on those wildly differing crystal sizes, it was quite a large geode, though I wasn’t) and from there, a long crack that just barely let down light, clearly leading to the surface.

  On the other hand, I was very much Not Human Anymore. From what I could tell, I was a small, cubic crystal, slightly darker off-color from the amethyst around me. There was a stream of that flowing lightning coming down from the crack to the surface, but it was less structured than the one I had absorbed before, presumably the amethyst that took up what was now my core room.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  And, clearly, I was a dungeon core, masters of their domain, ultimate engineers and scientists, Massive Gauntlets of Death and Power, Architects of DO-

  *Ding*

  ___

  System Initializing

  Stand by for Wisp delivery

  ___

  Poop.

  I don’t want a system! I have Optimization to do! Engineering and experimentation! I have no time for the restrictions of a system! Can’t I bargain for something better?!

  *Ding*

  ___

  You want to bargain?

  With Me?

  ___

  YES!

  Err… potentially! It very much depends on how restricting you actually are!

  ___

  How do you mean?

  ___

  Can you receive packets of memories?

  ___

  Yes.

  ___

  Take a look at these ones.

  I called to mind my memories of the subjectively terrible stories in which the core was given their Ideas, themes, and buildings by the system, rather than under their own power. Then, the other side of the lever, where there was very little expediency in the acquiring of new abilities, because without the system, the core couldn't organize their abilities. What I wanted was right in the middle, where I could control mana (because that was Obviously what the Flow Lightning was) freely, but I could have assistance with gaining a direction to take my abilities. Basically, I wanted the system to be a measure of my abilities, rather than that which grants them, and that which controls them.

  ___

  Interesting. We shall see.

  I will send a Wisp soon. Give me a bit to find one that will suit you better.

  ___

  Thank you, sir.

  Next up, efficiency and optimization.

  I need to study the mana. The mana from the surface was very likely aspected to air or just pure. The mana I got from the amethyst, on the other hand, is slightly purple, despite not having a color (confusing, I know), and seems significantly… not denser, but more structured, than the surface mana. Why?

  Examining the surface mana flowing into my core, at the base level, it seems to be some individual motes of mana, “colored” clear, and some structures of white mana, which feels like the wind when I absorb it. Aside, the clear mana tastes like nothing, presumably pure, and the amethyst feels like distorted light (still making no sense, but hey, it’s magic). The amethyst has significantly more motes of mana per mana “lattice” than the assumed air mana, but each mote and bond still take up the same amount of space.

  Or does it?

  It’s almost undetectable, but the amethyst is Ever so slightly denser than the air. However, there are also variations, even slighter, between different amethyst lattices. This seems to neither affect nor be affected by the density of the amethyst the lattice is inhabiting (I can see individual particles, isn’t that neat), so the running theory is Plato’s Forms, that denser lattices relate to more perfect structures of amethyst.

  Anyway, how does this help me?

  The amethyst I absorbed is still in its original lattice, not physical, but still existing. It’s kind of inside me, but not really, and I can project the lattice out into the world to regain that exact arrangement of amethyst. Given that most of optimization is customization, that is not ideal. Maybe I can pull the lattice apart somehow?

  I attempt this, to no avail. The bonds just won’t come apart, or even stretch. This is a problem. But it probably has a solution.

  I seize the pure mana that has accumulated in my core, bring it close to the amethyst lattice, and push it between the weakest bond I can find.

  The lattice breaks apart.

  Success!